Britain will not reverse Brexit, Hammond tells CEOs in Davos

“Britain will be leaving the EU on the 29th of March 2019,” Hammond said. “This decision is not going to be reversed. That is a matter of political reality.”

Hammond said it was important to have an arrangement which allowed free trade between Britain and the world’s largest trading bloc to continue.

But he said any Brexit trade deal should be both bespoke and ambitious.

“Off-the-shelf deal - Canada and Norway - is not the right model for Britain or the EU,” Hammond said. “This is something more ambitious than any trade deal that has been agreed in the past.”

The European Council meeting in March should confirm what the British call the implementation period, which is known by most people as the transition period. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andy Bruce)